“I-I’m really not hungry.” Kitty backed towards the wall.
Velma followed her. “Come on, Kitty, try it. It’s my own recipe. I think you’ll like it.” She held the steaming bowl aloft, grinning evilly.
Kitty slowly shook her head.
Velma’s voice took on a hard edge. “Come on, Kitty. Drink the soup. Believe me, it’s easier this way. You wouldn’t rather have the knife, would you?”
Velma grabbed Kitty’s arm and twisted it roughly behind her back. Kitty howled. Velma pushed the soup to her mouth. Hot, poisonous soup splashed over Kitty’s face and scalded her tongue. She gagged. Velma was pushing her to the floor.
The door flew open. Jack burst in. “Kitty, are you okay?”
Velma screamed in frustration and tossed the bowl at the detective. He dodged to one side. The bowl missed him, but not the knife that Gil had thrown. Jack hadn’t seen it coming. It struck him in the thigh and he went down.
“Jack!” Kitty shouted in horror. Velma had released her grip on Kitty and she scrambled to Jack’s aid. Gil lunged at the fallen detective, grabbed the knife and was about to hit him with it again when Jack managed to pull out his revolver. He shot once and Gil went down on top of him.
The explosion shattered Kitty’s ears. And the air was filled with dancing stars. She heard moaning and didn’t know if it was Jack or Gil or both of them.
Kitty struggled to her feet and turned toward the sound of footsteps. “Velma!”
A long deboning knife glistening in Velma’s fist. Kitty was going to be sliced to ribbons. She grabbed a cushion and threw. Foam peanuts exploded all around as Velma’s knife slashed through the material.
“Velma, please,” begged Kitty. “It doesn’t have to be like this.”
“You are such a pain,” hissed Velma. “Look at the trouble you’ve caused.” She dove.
Kitty snatched a lamp off the table and wrapped her hands around it. She closed her eyes. If she was going to die, she was going to go down swinging.
Her hands shook and the lamp fell from her grasp. She’d hit something! Kitty opened her eyes. Velma looked dazed. But she was still coming, blood oozing from her temple.
Kitty reached for the broken lamp. Velma’s knife dug into her arm and she recoiled. Burning pain shot through her arm and raced all the way to her shoulder. She kicked.
Velma kicked back and she was bigger and stronger. “Stop struggling, bitch!”
Velma flipped Kitty over on her back. She straddled Kitty with her big legs on each side, effectively anchoring her victim down. Kitty was going to be pinned to the floor! Blindly, Kitty lashed out with her arms. Her hand found the lamp and she slammed it against Velma’s ear.
Velma squealed with rage. She grabbed her ear and bounced up and down on Kitty a couple of times. Kitty could barely breathe. And she’d dropped her weapon.
The deboning knife was only inches from her eyes and coming fast. Kitty squeezed her eyes shut. Her mind went blank. This was it. This was Death. Hardly the way she’d pictured it.
A large boom shook the room. Kitty opened her eyes. Velma was falling off to one side. Her other side was covered with blood. The deboning knife fell harmlessly to the carpet. Kitty pulled herself out from under Velma’s weight.
“Jack! Are you okay?”
The detective laid his revolver on the ground. Gil was still clinging to him, even in death. “So,” said Jack, “some third date, eh?”